June 22 2023 Day Twenty

 June 22 – Larkspur CA – Day 20

 

It is cold in California, and it was definitely a jacket day all day. I left with a sunny day in Upland, but the further West I went the more gloomy it got. The June gloom is definitely in full swing, and I get to ride thru it. It wasn’t until I hit the interstate heading north that things warmed up, but according to the bike it was only in the low 80’s and I figured once I took off the jacket, I’d probably hit a cold spot. Sure enough, especially coming around the Oakland Bay it was really cold, windy and gloomy. It made for an interesting day too with a visit to the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose.

 

I got a little earlier start leaving around 8:30 this morning and I was able to get thru the traffic in some spots fairly easily with the white lining, and soon I was on the I5 heading north which would be my route for most of the day. Even though it was the fast track to San Jose since Mike and I had already decided against California 1 or 101 since there were parts of the road closed, I wasn’t hitting the speeds I’ve been able to on some of the other interstates I’ve ridden. There seems to be that many more vehicles on the road that I could take it a little easier and still pass some, and the other thing is there were sure plenty of trucks on the road. There was the grapevine Mike had talked about and I knew when I hit that because it was definitely a climb and the trucks just trying to get to the top and then on the other side, a brake check and a slow decent at least for the trucks. For me you know I can hit it hard, just not as hard as usual.

 

It was quite the site heading north because there were a lot of trees which had me wondering what was being grown and I even saw some tree farms where all the trees were cut down waiting to be ground into mulch that it had me wondering what that was all about. A lot of agriculture along the way and a lot of what looked like dry brush that I could see one spark starting what could be another major fire in California. There was one farm I did see that I later learned from Dennis was a stockyard and I could see cattle for as far as I could see, and I actually felt sorry for the cattle and the conditions they looked like they had to endure before they were table meat. Dirty, didn’t look like much food or anything to eat, shelters for a few of the cattle and just dirty conditions all around. Oh well, I guess I still like my meat, so I just have to let it go.

 

Eventually I had to take a side road off the I5 and it was just a 2-lane road most of the way and heading West into the wind so made for a bit of a rough ride. It was a fun road to ride even if it was only a 2-lane road because it was twisty and turny and took me thru the garlic capital Gilroy where you could really smell the garlic. Fortunately for me it was a bigger town that had gas stations because on my way there I thought about stopping for gas but skipped it and it had me down quite a bit by the time I got into town, almost a day running out of gas that I have to pay better attention. I was back on a freeway to my way to San Jose and traffic wasn’t bad all that I made it to the mystery house that I’ll have rot do a tour.

 

What an interesting house and something in the middle of downtown that continues to attract crowds. It was only an hours tour, but a really interesting story about the lady Sarah Winchester who moved out West after losing a child and her husband from the East to take a huge farmhouse (mansion) and continue to build on to it to send spirits away. If ever in San Jose, I’d definitely recommend the tour. I did get a lot of pictures, sorry I can’t share, but trust me, they were worth it.

 

Ok finally time for me to get to Larkspur and according to directions thru Oakland it should take me just over 2 hours with more freeway to ride. At first, I wasn’t sure if I could white line it, but I did go for it and shortly there were other bikes coming up on me fast that I eventually gave them the right of way because I think I might’ve been slowing them down and sure enough. Once I started following them and what they were doing I was able to make much quicker time just going for it. A bit unnerving at times, but as long as I follow, the cars are separating to let us thru. I did lose my leaders before getting to Oakland, so I was on my own from there and sure enough I’m hitting rush hour just at the peak and since I put in m directions to take me the Oakland route, sure enough it took me downtown Oakland before I started to get directions to my final destination for the day.

 

It was cold like I mentioned coming over the bay and even with one missed turn eventually made it to Dennis and Amy’s which will be a nice stay. I got unpacked, took my needed shower even though I wasn’t as dirty having worn a jacket all day, had myself a beer and shared my photo of the family from 17 years ago, boy have the kids grown. Justin in college and Kelly ready to graduate soon. Amy had a lasagna in the oven for us so I am going to be more than good with a meal and a nice bedroom for a day’s rest, if I can handle the cold.